Fifty years is an eternity in television time, but a blink of an eye in the memory of a country. From December 1st, on Rai1, Can Yaman will wear the sarong of Sandokan, the Tiger of Malaysia, and the comparison with Kabir Bedi is as inevitable as it is ruthless. Everyone remembers that magnetic look, the hair in the wind, the flight to defeat the tiger. And Philippe Leroy as the irresistible Yanez, Carole André as Marianna, the Pearl of Labuan, Adolfo Celi in the role of the very bad James Brooke. And then that theme song, good heavens, that theme song by Oliver Onions – Guido and Maurizio De Angelis – which still today makes you want to hoist the sails and shout «boarding!» from the balcony of the house.
Sergio Sollima’s 1976 series literally made Italy dream. It was the perfect script: adventure, exoticism, romance, naval battles shot with heart and a budget that would make you smile today. But he had that spirit, that all-Italian ability to transform Emilio Salgari’s novels into popular epics, into legends shared in front of that television that was still often in black and white. Today Jan Maria Michelini and Nicola Abbatangelo take up that legacy with respect but without awe. No longer the monolithic hero of the past, but a man who suffers, doubts, evolves.
Can Yaman spent five years preparing: losing weight, learning to ride a horse, training for action scenes without a stunt double, reading everything he could about Sandokan. And a hope, as he reiterated several times, “that Kabir likes my interpretation”. The differences with the Seventies series are evident and intentional. The screenwriter Alessandro Sermoneta declared that he used the novel as a primary source, taking liberties without betraying the spirit of the book. First of all, the age of the characters: Ed Westwick plays Lord James Brooke much younger, as in the original novel, not the mature and threatening Celi. Alessandro Preziosi brings a different Yanez to the screen: still the funny Portuguese, of course, but with a dramatic story behind him that will be revealed episode after episode. And together with Yaman he gives Buddy Movie lessons.
Then there is Marianna, played by Alanah Bloor: daughter of the British consul, of noble blood, she loves freedom as much as Sandokan, she is combative, and doesn’t wait to be saved. The Lux Vide production with Rai Fiction invested heavily: filming took place between the island of Reunion, Lazio, Tuscany and Calabria, where the English colony of Labuan was rebuilt in Lamezia Terme, thanks to the support of the Calabria Film Commission and the Calabria Region, in the area of the former SIR – Società italiana resine, with other Calabrian locations used to expand the promotion of the territory. The acronym? Rearranged by Calibro 35, a Milanese band specialized in seventies cinematographic sounds. A sonic trait d’union between the glorious past of Oliver Onions and the present, because this series has to deal with a very heavy legacy: that of Italian popular television, capable of creating lasting myths with unlimited means and heart.
Yesterday, in Lamezia Terme, for the press preview screening of the first two episodes, Anton Giulio Grande, president of the Calabria Film Commission, declared: «The images shot here convey an extraordinary beauty and cinematic power that enhance the territory. Fiction is not just entertainment, but also an important spin-off: it has involved actors, extras and local workers, creating opportunities and training for young people. It is proof that Calabria can become a national and international cinema hub.” The director Jan Maria Michelini and also the president of the Calabria Region Roberto Occhiuto were present.
Now we have to wait for the four evenings on Rai1, worldwide distribution by Fremantle. Also starring Madeleine Price and John Hannah. Salgari’s world – jungles, tigers, pirates, colonialists, collapsing empires – lives again in a production that wants to live up to the myth without being its slave. We’ll find out from December 1st. Meanwhile we can still dream of jungles and freedom, naval battles and impossible loves.